LODI - If a member of your party has ever dismissed the idea of dining at the Lodi Beer Company because they weren't in the mood for pub food, you'll know they've never eaten there.

The craft brew restaurant's title may conjure up images of a barely decent burger and salty fries, but this quaint downtown Lodi hotspot's menu is head and shoulders above the typical fare of the traditional ale house.

House favorites include the jambalaya, Acapulco mahi mahi, pizzas and the New Orleans Cajun burger. The menu is stacked with originality and a gourmet flair.

The restaurant is pleasing to look at both on the outside, with a brick and granite facade, and on the inside, where tables are placed around large brewing vats and equipment. The restaurant has an industrial but classy atmosphere.

On a recent lunch trip, our party of three started with a plate of chips and salsa ($3.99). The corn tortilla chips were delivered to the table warm, and seasoned with the perfect amount of salt. The salsa was uniquely sweet and packed a nontraditional yet memorable flavor.

By way of entrees, our party was equally satisfied. A high point for our table was the assortment of fried potato options. We each ordered fries of different types: one blue cheese, one garlic, and one criss-cut to go with our respective orders of fish and chips, a chicken wrap and a pulled pork sandwich.

The fish and chips ($13.50) arrived as piping hot cod filets, light and flaky with a coating that didn't overwhelm the fish. This is the order that came with garlic fries, which we were happy to find flavorful but not heaping with garlic in the mold of, say, the cornerstone of San Francisco's AT&T Park concession stands.

This entree also came with plenty of sides: cole slaw, tartar sauce and cocktail sauce, which worked well for a patron who is not a fan of tartar sauce.

We found the chicken wrap ($10.25) to be a delight. The menu offers the wrap in either steak or chicken. With our choice of the latter we reveled in a mouth-watering mixture of greens, cubed chicken, pesto, dried cranberries, feta cheese, and portabella mushroom held together in a flour tortilla.

The wrap is so large it was only prudent to eat half, especially with a heaping serving of criss-cut fries that were deep fried nicely and seasoned. For anyone who enjoys a fresh salad but wants a little more - this meal is highly recommended.

The pulled pork sandwich ($9.95) just flat-out looked good when it came to the table, as was the case with all our meals.

The saucy pork spilled out from between the grilled country roll, the top half anchored at a rakish tilt atop the sandwich by a protruding steak knife. Inside, long ribbons of grilled onions mixed with pork with flavor that peeked through that of the barbecue sauce. Tangy, sweet and smoky, the sauce was delicious.

The fried potato options were vast, so we aimed for the fringe and opted for something different, having never heard of blue cheese fries before. There might be a reason blue cheese fries aren't a common offering on menus; we felt the combination was less than the sum of its parts. We can't fault any of the base ingredients - which were high quality and excellently prepared - but the flavors and texture just didn't meld well on this particular palate.

The crumbled blue cheese on top was creamy and pungent, tasting just like a good blue cheese should. And in case that wasn't enough for you, it came with a side cup of blue cheese dressing for dipping.

It's also important to note that service was on point. Our server was quick to refresh our drinks but a long way from intrusive. We were able to have lunch in about 50 minutes.

What about the beer? Our party didn't partake during a midweek lunch, but on a separate after hours trip we did imbibe in a Umna Hefeweisen. Full disclosure, this reviewer is a sucker for a citrus-y hefe, so every last drop of the pint was refreshing. We wouldn't rank this beer at the top of our list, although the judges at the California State Fair found 15 of the brewery's creations to be medal worthy in 2007.